KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- On pace for their third 100-loss season
in four years, the Kansas City Royals keep playing well against
tough opponents.
Mike Sweeney homered twice and drove in five runs, and Emil
Brown hit a run-scoring single in the 13th inning as the Royals
overcame a five-run deficit and beat the Chicago White Sox 6-5
Wednesday.
Jon Garland, trying to become the first 16-game winner in the
major leagues, left with a 5-2 lead but his bullpen couldn't hold
it, partly because of sloppy fielding.
"We faced probably one of top three pitchers in the American
League in Garland," Sweeney said. "When we got down five to
nothing, I thought, man it is going to be tough, but we can do it.
We marched back and never quit. can't remember the last time we won
a series against Chicago. We haven't done that much."
Kansas City took two of three games in the series against the
White Sox, whose 65-35 record is the best in the major leagues.
"This is the best club in baseball and we beat [Mark] Buehrle
and Garland back-to-back," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "It
doesn't really get any better than that."
While the Royals are 38-63, the second-worst record in the AL
ahead of only Tampa Bay (36-66), they also swept a three-game
series from the New York Yankees from May 31-June 2. Chicago had
won the series opener 14-6 Monday.
"That was two great wins especially against them," said David
DeJesus, who scored the winning run. "They put it to us earlier
this season. To come out after the first game, getting beat like
the way we did, to come back with two games like this together
definitely is a step in the right direction for us."
The Royals got seven shutout innings from their bullpen, with
Andrew Sisco pitching two innings, and Ambiorix Burgos, Mike
MacDougal, Jeremy Affeldt, Nunez and Shawn Camp (1-2) throwing one
inning each.
"That was huge," Sweeney said. "I know a lot of teams are
calling about some of our guns in the bullpen.
"If Allard is smart, he'll keep them here," he added,
referring to general manager Allard Baird. "They showed us why
they are so valuable."
Shawn Camp (1-2), promoted Monday from Triple-A Omaha, pitched a
perfect 13th. The White Sox protested the game because Camp was not
listed on the lineup card.
"The right side of the card is a courtesy" for the reserves
and the bullpen, Bell said. "Apparently, they don't know the
rules. The protest is a non-issue for me."
With the score 5-all DeJesus led off the 13th with a single off
Luis Vizcaino (4-5), the seventh White Sox pitcher. DeJesus took
second on Chip Ambres' single. Sweeney's single to center loaded
the bases and Brown ended the game with his third hit of the day.
"The shadows were so bad," Brown said. "I swung and missed at
a slider on the first pitch and must have looked awful. I couldn't
pick it up at all. I swung where I thought it started and not where
it finished. On the second pitch, I thought, 'You're getting
another slider. You took such a terrible swing at it. Stay short
and through it.' "
Juan Uribe and Scott Podsednik both were caught stealing in the
12th. The White Sox lead the majors with 45 caught stealing.
In the bottom half, Kansas City left the bases loaded when John
Buck hit a grounder off rookie Bobby Jenks.
Garland, who lowered his ERA to 3.09, gave up three runs -- just
one earned -- and five hits in seven innings.
"It's pretty impressive to get that many decisions," said
Garland, who was 15-4 in his first 19 starts. "I'm not going to
worry about this one. I gave my team a chance."
He threw 63 of 88 pitches for strikes and was replaced by Neal
Cotts after giving up a leadoff single to DeJesus in the eighth.
Terrence Long reached on first baseman Ross Gload's error as
DeJesus took third and Sweeney hit a three-run homer on a fastball
off Cliff Politte, who had not been scored on in 30 of his previous
33 outings. It was Sweeney's 16th multihomer game.
"The ball went through my legs," Gload said. "If you hit it
to me now, I'd probably catch it."
Garland held the Royals to two hits in the first five innings
before giving up a two-run homer to Sweeney on a slider with two
outs in the sixth. The runs were unearned because of second baseman
Tadahito Iguchi's error on Terrence Long's grounder.
"We played poor defense all week," White Sox manager Ozzie
Guillen said.
Kansas City's Runelvys Hernandez, who had won his previous three
starts, did not allow a hit until Aaron Rowand's double with one
out in the fourth.
Uribe hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Chicago made it 5-0
in the sixth on Jermaine Dye's three-run homer and Joe Crede's solo
shot.
"I threw only two bad pitches," Hernandez said. "I have to
say thank you to my team for coming back."
Game notes
White Sox DH Carl Everett was ejected in the first inning
by plate umpire Tim Timmons after disputing a called third strike.
Perez replaced him. ... Long went 0-for-4, snapping his seven-game
hitting streak, but he reached base twice on errors and scored two
runs. ... 1B Matt Stairs leads the Royals with 40 walks, but has
just four in his past 28 games, including one in the eighth inning.